Children in Fashion

Many of the girls we see walking down the catwalks and displayed inside the covers of magazines aren’t even legally able to drink, smoke, let alone drive, but they sure could have fooled us. Yes, fashion is about fantasy, but when does the fantasy go too far? Where should the line be drawn?

As children most of us enjoyed playing dress up and pretend, but the innocent notion of dress up is not so innocent in the fashion world. Many of the underage models in the fashion industry are dressed and styled sometimes in very sexually suggestive clothing, clothing that in some cases would be inappropriate for even a grown woman to wear in public. Not only is the clothing suggestive of behavior that a young girl shouldn’t be advertising, but the staged scenes and photographed postures are also sometimes very suggestive. This continued use of sexualized poses in fashion makes me consider how much influence the porn industry actually has on mainstream culture. It also makes me question this idea of whether or not these sexualized images of young girls could be considered child pornography. Apparently, under federal law these sexualized images of young girls do not fall under the legal definition of child pornography, but I personally feel that they walk a very thin line.

In our culture this idea of wanting to grow up fast, and become adults is very prevalent among young Americans. This desire to be older than you are is constantly being advertised to the youth culture in the United States, especially by the Fashion Industry. The Lingerie sector of the Fashion Industry has always been targeted to grown women, but now some companies are designing lingerie targeted towards children. Strange? Yes, but what is even stranger is that there is a market for it.

At the end of the article some very interesting questions where posed. The author asks, “If it is legal for adults to dress up as minors and pose in sexually suggestive photographs, why would it be illegal for minors to dress up as adults and do the same?” I personally don’t agree with adults dressing up as children and posing in sexually suggestive photographs, because it gives the illusion that it’s okay for people to think of children in a sexual way, which it is not. Legal issues regarding minors dressing as adults, should be enforced to stop minors from being in a position where they have to pose in sexually suggestive, and/or explicit photographs. The problem in both aspects of this question boils down to this term sexual. Children and the idea of children should in no way, shape, or form be associated with anything sexual.